


The Rain in Sandover

by Salty_Dog



Category: Jak and Daxter
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-16
Updated: 2016-02-01
Packaged: 2018-04-20 12:44:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4787672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salty_Dog/pseuds/Salty_Dog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The rain comes to Sandover for the first time since Daxter has been transformed, and no-one is pleased. Least of all him.</p><p>(Before Jak 2, after the precursor legacy secret ending.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Whenever it rained in Sandover it always felt peaceful and private. Rain made it hard to hear noises in other houses, and normally everyone kept their doors and shutters closed. Daxter hated it. He had always disliked it but he didn’t realise why until he had been transformed. It forced him to be alone with his thoughts.

When he was younger Jak would hang out with him during days like this, they’d draw maps on the floor with chalk, sometimes just drawing board games, or trying to figure out words or phrases from drawings. And when the rain was really bad they’d bounce on the beds and do everything the old guy would yell at them for doing. They even went exploring in it sometimes.

But now, Jak was spending the day with Keira. Daxter scowled at the ceiling. He always thought she liked them equally or at least would refrain from picking favourites until someone else their age came along. Now she and Jak were an item _. When did that develop! The guy doesn’t even talk! But whatever, hero, destiny, blah blah blah, saved the world._ He gets it. He does really, honest. Jak is cool, he’s been his best friend for years, will be for years. Keira wouldn’t come between them.

But it still stuck to him. She only really changed her attitude after they came back from the misty isle and started their journey. When he was changed into... _Into this_. He sighed. Then his stomach turned. If only he hadn’t been hit into that stupid goo Jak would have fallen in, Daxter would have had to step up to the plate, Daxter would be the one doing all the crazy stunts and jumps, Daxter would have taken down the ugly duo, gotten the recognition of being useful, and Jak would be short and fuzzy and the pressure of some great destiny off.

_I’d be the hero._

Would… would Kiera have chosen him instead if he proved himself? Maybe, then again he always talked too much. She got mad when he was confident and mad when he got scared, _Just no pleasing some people._ But the leaping headfirst into danger in order to save Jak would cancel out the scared part, and actually doing so would solve the confidence.

He’s been with Jak since the beginning, sure he may have taken longer to get into jumping from rock to rock, and less inclined for deadly and dangerous traps, but he would have done it. His life and Jak’s too would depend on it. And maybe old googly eyes would stop blaming him for Jak having fun once in a while at the expense of a few rules. It started like that at first, and then once Jak learned what fun was he took over in the decision of what they would go off and do for the most part. All while old Daxter took the blame, but whatever he forgave him. After all Jak was learning from the best troublemaker Sandover had ever seen.

And now Jak was hanging out with Keira, a lot. His stomach turned and he rolled over. Somehow that felt worse than being stuck as an ottsel. Question was why. He was happy for them. It had been about a week now and he was over it by the time they got back home. It was no big deal, Keira liked Jak, Jak liked Keira.

His mind went around in circles. Jak and Keira, Being an ottsel, Everything Jak has that he doesn’t, and then back around increasing in cynicism and self-depreciation. Jak had an ‘uncle’ and Daxter was alone, always alone. He didn’t get anyone to look after him. He did it himself and had been doing it for years. When he showed up he didn’t get a guardian, Jak did. Jak got a heroic destiny, Keira got a road to sage hood and he got nothing, like always. Nobody liked him, not even himself.

Daxter sat up and started towards the door. If he wasn’t going to get a nice happy future the one who caused it wasn’t going to get one either. He stormed out the door, slamming it before scrabbling to not get too wet.

 

He cooled down on the way to Samos’s house, literally and figuratively. He was still going to ruin their flirting of course, but not much aside from that. Perhaps he should talk to the old guy first. No, the old prune would be delighted if the ‘two heroes’ got together and would gripe on about jealousy or whatever. Might help him sleep though. Daxter skittered up to Keira’s garage, pushing his way in and unceremoniously announcing his presence by shaking off.

“Daxter!” Keira jumped and blocked any stray droplets getting on her papers “Watch it!”

“Brrr, that’ll wake ya up! Hey, Keira-” He glanced around “Hey uh, where’s Jak?”

“He wasn’t with you?” she shrugged, “I haven’t seen him all day, have you tried his room?”

_Of course he’d be in his room; I didn’t check it before coming up here._

“Who’d wanna go anywhere in this weather?” He countered quickly.

“You apparently,” she quipped smiling.

“Hey, I was looking for Jak! I, uh, needed his help for something.” Keira crossed her arms.

“You weren’t going to get him into trouble will you?”

“What?! Me?! Hold on just a minute there. Who do you think gets who into trouble?”

“Daxter, everyone knows you get into everything.”

“Yeah, when I was seven,” Daxter folded his arms.

Keira was having none of it. Glancing him over she raised an eyebrow.

“What, something on me?” He looked and spun around before it clicked. “Oh no, It wasn’t my idea to-”

“It’s never your idea, Daxter,” Keira said exasperated.

“That’s right! It never is!” Daxter took a triumphant step forward, “And you-”

“Daxter, please! You have to start taking responsibility for your actions for once!” His face fell.

“But it was Jak-”

“I don’t want to hear it! Nothing’s ever your fault, but every time something goes right suddenly you get credit. Stop blaming Jak for everything!”

“You’re only saying that because you’re sweet on him!” he jabbed a finger at her, “and it was Jak-“

“No it wasn’t!”

“Yes it was! Jak-”

“Didn’t do anything!” Keira finished for him.

“Except push me in!”

“What! Daxter, how could you say such a thing!”

“Easily!”

“That’s because you’re a huge liar, Dax!” she poked a finger at his nose.

“Hey! I may make stories more exciting, but I never outright lie!”

“I’m sure,” sarcasm in her voice “and I’m even more sure that this story has nothing to do with me and Jak being together.”

“You think I’d-!” Daxter visibly shook fists clenching. “You think I’d say he pushed me **_because I’m jealous?!_** ”

He panted for a second, regaining his breath. “Lady, you are seriously self-absorbed!”

“Daxter, I knew you liked me, and now,” she added raising her voice to cut him off, “you can’t handle the fact that Jak and I are together.”

“I knew you liked Jak from the beginning! It couldn’t have been more obvious if you had it tattooed on your forehead!” Daxter huffed before going on. “And I’m not jealous! I’m just…” He gestured searching for words and failing.

“Jealous?” she folded her arms again smugly.

“I’d be envious.” Daxter added diplomatically, “not jealous.”

“They’re the same thing!”

“No, envy is wanting what someone else has. Jealousy is when you’re worried someone is going to take what you have.”

“Whatever, Daxter. You’re still admitting to it.”

“I’m not admitting to anything!”

“Daxter!”

They held a long stare before both sighed angrily, looking in opposite directions. It was a quiet except for the rain. It was all the rain’s fault. If it wasn’t raining he wouldn’t have been in a bad mood and needed to bug the two love birds. And then he and Keira wouldn’t be fighting. He shuddered. It was cold, shaking off didn’t dry him off fully and Keira was probably going to yell at him if he just asked her for a towel. Guess he was going to have to apologise. He sighed,

“I really-”

“Take responsibility Daxter.” Her voice was cold, and Daxter felt his anger heat up a little in response.

“I was going to say that I did feel somewhat envious, but you know what? I will take responsibility,” He spat, jumping onto her desk. “If I hadn’t have let Jak convince me to go to the misty isle with him, or felt obligated to follow him when he walked around the island, I wouldn’t have been there to stop him being knocked into the dark eco and in the process gotten pushed into it myself!”

Her face fell as she started to process those words.

“And then,” he continued raising his voice, “Jak would have been small orange and furry, then he’d have no reason to stay here after saving the world and we’d go off to find a way of him being turned back to normal and I wouldn’t have to stay here with all of you!”

“Or wait,” he said, voice getting louder. “Maybe if I had convinced him not to go in the first place we wouldn’t have gone, and we wouldn’t have seen Gol and Maya leading the lurkers and planning to attack the village. Then we could have missed our opportunity to save the world all together, huh. Wouldn’t that have been great! We’d all be dead but at least I’d have pants!”

“And you know, maybe I wouldn’t have to feel so envious that Jak and you have a chance for love and romance and family and a heroic destiny of sage hood. Maybe I wouldn’t have to deal with being small and weak with people threatening to eat me, or calling me names like fleabag. Maybe I wouldn’t have to worry about making stupid growling noises whenever someone says something bad about me!” He panted unable to look Keira in the eyes. Now he’d done it.

“Daxter, I didn’t-”

“Now I see, Keira,” he drawled unable to control himself “It’s all my fault!” He put a hand on his chest. “I have seen the light. I will take responsibility for my actions which I have been in no way paying for a thousand times over!” He turned his back on her.

“I didn’t know-” She started, sounding frustrated.

“But you knew I was lying, huh?” He snarled. He was taking everything out on her, serves her right. He wasn’t an animal and he helped with all of Jak’s stunts, to a degree. Serves Keira right to be served some humble pie, he thought. After a few seconds he heard sniffling. _Oh no._ He turned and tried to think of something to fix this.

“Hey,” he murmured.

“You’re a dick.” She sobbed.

“Yeah,” he conceded, “I am.”

“At least argue!” she rubbed her eyes, fat tears falling faster than ever.

He threw up his hands. There was just no winning with this girl. He took a deep breath, padded over, and took a seat next to her. Unsure of what to say, he did what he always did.

“So hey, acknowledging I have a problem. That’s new. It only took me being turned into an ottsel to happen.” He gave a shrug, nudging her side. She cried harder.

“Yeesh, tough crowd,” he rubbed his neck. “I didn’t mean it. I don’t blame Jak, or you. I’m not mad or anything.” Nothing at that, guess he needed to try harder.

“I’m, uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you.” He felt his stomach drop as she kept crying, he really didn’t want to spill his guts, but he also really didn’t want her to keep bawling her eyes out. He took a deep sighing breath.

“Keira, baby, please don’t cry.” He touched her arm and she jerked away, sobbing louder. “It’s not like no-one else is having to deal with anything, I know that. It’s just my consequences are a lot more visible and personal to me, obviously.” It seemed to be working, maybe. He scratched his head.

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed.

“No, no, it’s fine I’m not mad. Baby, I could never stay mad at such a pretty face.” She sniffed but was still crying hard. “Keira, don’t make me beg, please stop crying.” Crap, he was in trouble. “How about you tell me about what you’re working on! That’ll make you feel better.” She shook her head.

“Ah come on,” He picked up the blueprint of the gate with little presumed measurements and figures on it. “Woah, making a ring for Jak already? Little fast into commitment aren’t ya.”She swatted at him vaguely, if you could call it such, but it didn’t give him any hope of improvement. “Okay I know it’s the precursor ring, but hey so many numbers. Yeesh, you’re definitely a genius if you can work out how we’re going to get it over here. Looks like it’d take lots of machinery work, and math and stuff…” The bait was set but she just started devolving into incoherent crying talk. He didn’t need this in his life.

Well if talking didn’t work… He got up, a vague plan in his head.

“Keira, look at this!” he started juggling a few objects, “Eh? Can’t be sad now, can ya?” Turns out she could in fact still be sad. He tried for a minute longer but it was useless. He flumped down again, frustrated. Time for a new plan, something he could do. A wave of pre-emptive embarrassment filled him. If this didn’t work he was going to jump in the ocean, the lurker sharks could have him.

He popped up onto her lap cautiously. _Here goes nothing._ He let out a soft chirrup and rubbed his face against her arms.

“Daxter?” Face out of the hands, step one is complete. Now then, time to see if it holds up enough to get her to stop crying. He softly head-butted her arm again, sliding his face into her hand he chirped, nuzzling it. She laughed,

“Daxter, what are you doing? You’re soaked!” her hands were completely away from her face. It was time to go for the finisher. He jumped, rubbing his face against her neck still making noises. Her hands petted him gently, warm and dry.

“Stop!” but she was smiling and laughing now.

“Better?” he estranged himself from her and headed back onto the floor.

“Yeah, Thanks Daxter.”

“Good, if that kept up I wasn’t sure if I could keep my cool, suave, lady’s man image I’ve got going.” He slicked back the fur on his head. Keira rolled her eyes, giving a sigh before she stared to try and dry her face.

“Augh, Daxter you made my arms all wet.” She shook the slightly.

“That’s not the only thing I could make w-” Keira raised a wrench.

“Okay! Alright! Put the wrench down! I was just checking you were back to normal.” She shook her head and sat back down,

“I’ve gotta work on this, Daxter, it’s-“

“Speaking of work,” the two jumped as Samos walked in, “I heard you causing trouble Daxter, maybe some exercise will simmer you down.” Daxter rolled his eyes making a disgusted face.

“Oh, come on!”

Samos started walking out of the room, “Come along now,” he thumped his stick, “That room isn’t going to clean itself.” Daxter sighed.

“A man’s work is never done” he said dramatically, slapping a hand to his forehead in a mock swooning motion.

“Hey, Daxter?” Keira rubbed her neck, searching for words she didn’t have, couldn’t have.

“Thanks.” he said, they shared a smile before they heard the old sage start grumbling. “I’m coming! Keep your log on!” he skittered out and Keira turned back to her work.

Daxter hated rainy days.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day I will remember to update here and not just leave things rotting on my computer. One day.

The old sage’s hut always dripped from the pipes in the ceiling and on rainy days it was worse. Daxter hated trying to clean it on those days when he was human. Pipes would randomly spill out torrents of water causing changes to the water pressure elsewhere causing more leaks and more leaks. And Samos had books up there which needed to be moved in order to clean. And plants which needed to be tended to and removed but not too much tending and weeding, and a man-eating plant which needs its teeth brushed.

 Daxter, like every other reasonable person would, tried to avoid having to clean when the rains came, more so if it looked to be a thunderstorm.  And now he was three feet tall and trying to do everything he needed to. Easy tasks like sweeping became so much harder, he couldn’t just pick up a book, dust under it and put it back anymore.  When water randomly fell on him it could knock him off his feet, and he couldn’t dry his hands on his undershirt anymore.  Moving barrels to catch water drips was impossible now too, they got too heavy too quickly.

 It was a fruitless task, in which Samos would sometimes give him one of spare and uglier fruit he didn’t want for doing a good job in the summer times, but that wasn’t the point.  In sum there was no way he could do this. And Samos’s running commentary didn’t help.

 

“Daxter the water barrel is overflowing! Get a new one!”

“Daxter, stop dropping the broom! I swear you’re more trouble than you’re worth.”

“Daxter, I hate you and want to make your life miserable.”

 

Well the last one wasn’t what he actually said but Daxter could tell. The sage never liked him to begin with. It was always _Jak this_ and _Jak that_ , Go clean up Daxter, Jak needs to do something way less boring that doesn’t involve you. Daxter, Jak got into the Wumpbees’ nest I’m blaming you. Jak’s ugly little friend, Brat, butter fingers. And now Samos and the rest of them had new things to insult him with, flea bag, fur ball, rat. Samos didn’t care that he got knocked into eco, he made fun of him. He even called it an improvement!

“Daxter, stop growling and get to work!” Samos snapped suddenly, fixing his uneven eyes on him. Daxter put a hand to his throat. He hadn’t realized he was doing it, hadn’t meant to. “And you better take care of my books! They’re too important for your grubby paws to dirty them.” Daxter felt the hackles on his neck rise as old green kept yammering on about ‘Honestly, something something kid’s these days’.

“I’m working on it! If you hadn’t noticed I’m not exactly prime cleaning material here!”

“You don’t say. I hadn’t noticed with how well you were doing.” Daxter rolled his eyes. “Well, just be sure not to get any fur on my books, or cough a hairball on them, they’re important and I won’t have _you_ messing them up”

“Well if they’re so important why don’t you deal with them!” Daxter threw the book at him, jumping down from the bookshelf.  The book didn’t go far, and landed with a thud at the old sage’s feet.

“Because you need a serious attitude adjustment and if you work hard maybe you’ll be too tired to talk.”  Samos lifted up the book, brushing his hand across it.

“That work for you old man? I wouldn’t know because I’ve never seen you do anything!" Daxter jabbed his finger at the sage, tail flicking in irritation.

 “I’ll have you know, Daxter, that being a green eco sage is work which requires constant-” Daxter was lip syncing along with exaggerated expressions. “Knock that off!” Samos thumped his staff on the ground.  Daxter jumped a little at the loud noise but merely folded his arms as the sage continued.

“Constant attention and meditation to maintain the delicate balance of eco, which means I can’t do it when you’re griping about everything. I’m also in charge of making sure everyone and everything remains healthy and grows up properly, like that flut-flut in the village.”

“So you sit around, relax, make sure everything feels okay, talk with some plants, make sure no-one’s feeling sick,”  he waved his hand around loosely. “Sounds like you don’t have anything to do if there isn’t an emergency, which there isn’t!”  He punctuated the statement by stamping on the floor.

“Enough! While you may not be able to appreciate what I do because you can’t channel eco, I-”

“And how do you know that? I’ve heard you rant on and on about precursors and eco, never how to channel it because _Jak_ is _such a natural_.” He elongated the ending, pulling a face.

“Daxter, your persecution complex is quaint,” Daxter opened his mouth in outrage, “But,” the sage started, cutting him off. “You don’t have the ability to channel eco.”

“Yeah, but HOW do you know that?! What, only like talking when it’s things no-one cares about?” The sage pulled a hand down his face.

“Everyone interacts with eco and is affected by it in some way. Green eco promotes healing and recovery, blue eco quickens the reflexes, red eco helps strengthen the muscles, and yellow eco heats you up.”

“Get on with it, big green.” Daxter leant against a bucket, pushing it under a leak.

“But sages and eco channelers react to eco beyond this normal scope. Such as, for green eco, Jak being able to heal his wounds in a second, and for myself, being able to communicate with nature and draw power from it.  The yellow sage can manipulate yellow eco, concentrating it and compressing it into a capsule which reacts explosively upon impact rather than being absorbed, as it naturally would be. The red sage has a higher capacity for red eco and a higher than average ability to process it. And the blue sage can channel blue eco just like Jak can, but aimed more towards pursuits of the mind, rather than the foot.” Samos smiled to himself and Daxter rolled his eyes.

“Anyway,” the sage continued, “you have never shown any abnormal reaction to eco in the past, so it is reasonable to say you can’t channel eco.” The sage nodded to himself, stepping deftly out of the way of a sudden spout of water from the pipes.

“So everyone who falls into dark eco turns into an ottsel? Sounds like a real blast.” Daxter folded his arms. Samos opened his mouth, and then closed it thoughtfully, placing a hand on his chin.

“Well, no. That is very strange.” Daxter’s ears perked up, and he started to bounce from foot to foot as Samos spoke. “Being able to transform upon contact with eco, especially dark eco is very strange.”

“So I _can_ channel eco?” Daxter’s hands were clenched in front of his chest as he bounced in front of the sage. “So I can change myself back? I don’t have to be small and fuzzy?” He punched the air, jumping and spinning. “Yes!”

“I never said that.”

“Come on, Samos. This is the best news ever, don’t ruin it now!” Daxter paused, rubbing his chin. “So, just out of curiosity, what normally happens to people who touch dark eco?”

“Well, the dark eco tends to corrupt them, like you saw with the plants in the basin and Gol and Maia, and that’s with small amounts and handled by two sages.”  Samos was pacing back and forth.

“So uh, what if it wasn’t a small amount?”  Daxter squinted, ears pulled back.

“Death, certain death.”

“What!” Daxter screamed. “But I have so much to live for! Parties, babes, booze, I haven’t even beat Jak at something he’s good at yet!”  He grabbed the sage’s shirt, and started shaking it. “I have so much to live for!” The old sage shoved him off.

“Daxter the fact you’re alive means that there wasn’t enough to kill you.”

“But there was! The pit was about as big as this room! And-”

“Daxter you’re not making sense. Now calm yourself, work off some of that excess energy.” He pointed at the bucket, which was close to overflowing.

“Calm down?! I’ve got a death sentence on my head and you want me to clean up?!”

“Daxter, the dark eco triggered a transformation and any dark eco corruption would have been cleared when you unplugged the green eco vents for me.”

“That’s not-”

“Daxter, enough! Now get moving before I turn you into a fern.”

“Whatever! Can’t be worse than this!” He gestured to himself, “And hey,” he started, walking away shouting loudly over his shoulder, “Maybe if I was a plant you’d actually listen to me for once!”

"Well maybe if you had something important to say I would listen!” Samos loomed over him and that was it.

“No you wouldn't!” and he turned back to face him, marching forward and nearly poking him in the nose “you didn't listen to me when I came back from misty island. because if you did,” he said, extending his vowels as Samos opened his mouth, “then you would have known about Gol and Maia commanding the lurker army to attack the village and them trying to take take over the world a lot sooner because we saw them.”

“You saw them?” Samos’s eyes widened.

“But you, in your infinite wisdom, didn't listen to me and-”

“If I remember correctly,” Samos interjected, angry tinge to his voice, “You were more concerned with getting back to normal than telling me about any of these plans you overheard.” Daxter’s ears flattened,

“You were the one who started-”

“And Daxter, I believe you had plenty of opportunities afterwards to tell me about this.”

“Yeah, but-”

“I also believe that should you have had anything of note to say then it shouldn't have been so easily forgotten.”

“I didn't-”

“I can't see why you are trying to blame me for your own ineptitude, if you had something truly important to say then you'd do it.”

“How can I when you-”

“Daxter enough,” Samos put a hand to his head, “all this shouting is giving me a headache.”

“I'm not-”

“Daxt-”

“Stop interrupting me!” he shouted, stamping his foot on the ground. “You always do this!” he took a deep breath, “any time I start talking and say something you disagree or you don't wanna hear you cut me off! It doesn't matter how impo-” Samos started to speak, lifting up a hand,

“Tha-”

“I’m not finished!” Daxter screwed his eyes shut and shook his head. “It doesn't matter if it's important or not you just talk over me! You never listen, you yap on forever and we aren't allowed to even not pay attention, but you're allowed to do whatever you want! It's not fair!” he threw his arms down before folding them across his chest. “I-”

“Daxter, stop being a brat!” Samos smacked Daxter with his stick. “I've had enough of your childish whining, be quiet.” Daxter rubbed his head, “you're almost an adult, it's time you grew up and-”

“Just shut up!” Daxter slammed his fists through the air as he said the words. “You never care about anything I have to say! If it comes from me you don't care! I'm not going to make it to adulthood because the stupid, pit of Dark eco was bigger than your stupid house! I'm going to die and then you can be happy and have all the silence you want!”  he turned away and Samos reached for him.

“Daxter, stop being so over dramatic. I'm not going to put up with-” Daxter scratched him. His claws broke the skin and Samos pulled his hand away sharply. He hope it hurt, he wanted to hurt him, rage coursing through him.

“You've always hated me! Well, I hate you too! If I die at least I'll never have to deal with you again!” he scampered to the door. “And clean it yerself!”  Samos was shouting his name as he dashed off into the rain, Keira might be shouting after him too but he didn't care. He didn't care about any of them! Just like they didn't care about him.

 

Samos never really left his hut, and even if he did, in this weather he wouldn't be able to see where Daxter went, even with his orange fur. He wanted to run far away, spite them all and just keep running forever. But it was raining hard and he just snuck behind the nearest building and hid there, dripping from the rain.

He hid there for a while, maybe expecting to hear footfalls or someone calling for him, but none came. He sat there, hearing only a pattering on the roof and occasional roar of thunder. Alone again.

He hated the rain.


End file.
